Best Social Policy Sequence ?

[moors]

I know it really depends but if you think you know a very good sequence for some conditions, please share your opinion and we may see best social policy sequences for some civilizations, maps, other conditions in the end.

I'll be interested most for Egypt in a crowded pangea map(6 civ, duel map, Emperor) now. I like +3 production in all coastal cities in commerce but in this map probably other trees should be prioritized...

 

[Arachnofiend]

Tradition/Rationalism/Order is usually the most reliable sequence. In such a packed map you may want to go Autocracy instead if you're going domination since you won't have as many cities after your conquering. If science/diplo stick with Order anyways, the 25% science boost from factories is invaluable regardless of how many cities you have. Obviously this all goes to crap if you're going culture.

 

[Saxony]

I agree. Tradition/Rationalism/Order is the way to go for most of the cases. Sometimes Honor is useful especially for an early conqest tactic. Commerse is good on water-based maps and Patronage can make you infinite friends with CS. (Protection of CS/Papal Primacy/Aesthetics)

 

[joncnunn]

Standard tall-science Social policy order in G&K:

1. Tradition opener
2. Legalism
3. Monarchy
4. Landed Elite
5. Remaining two Tradition policies (population dependent) [free aquaducts ASAP]
6. Patronage opener
7. Aesthetics (pledge to protect abuse for free friendship with the map [+3 happiness for every Mercantile city state on the map + massive bonuses to culture & faith + massive food bonus in the capital + free units]; indirectly this wil also make you a sho-in to win culture and faith competions.)
8. Rationalism
9. Left
10. Next one down in left.
11. Depends upon if your signing RAs; if so then finish left side; else start right side.
12. Right side
13. Last Rationalism policy unless you want to delay the techs until the next policy to get more expensive ones, in which case Order opener (a cheap faith based GE now that you've had several faith based GSs)
14. If you picked Order order for #13 then last Rationalism policy. Otherwise open Order.

If you get any more social policies: Middle tree of Order.

 

[kirbdog]

Full Tradition, Full Rationalism, with Aesthetics and/or Planned Economy. Best benefits for AI bashing.

 

[guinsoo]

I actually like to do 5 tradition, skip Patronage if I can get to renaissance in time, open Rationalism and first two policies on the left, then open order and get Planned Economy, then finish Rationalism.

If you skip Patronage you can afford to get Planned Economy up early, and then still finish Rationalism in the turn ~210-230 area for a quick win.

 

[Sammydakid]

i like to start with liberty and settle a "liberal" amount of cities nice and early and transition into piety while building lots of temples to get a strong faith game going. then i get a bit of commerce for some gold; who does not like gold. later i get order, all the per city bonuses really shine going wide!

 

[chazzycat]

I love aesthetics, and there is usually enough culture to fit in 2 policies before renaissance anyway, unless you slow it down intentionally. 1-2 policies in piety before finishing liberty is also a good strat for wide games.

 

[Hammer Rabbi]

yep, the standard combos are covered.

for variety i like to go one in Tradition and then full Liberty to time the GP with something awesome (usually a GE for a wonder but sometimes a prophet for a fast enhancement). and because i didnt get 4 free culture buildings it's pretty easy to go straight into Rationalism. If it isnt timed then i can pick the next one (8th policy) as the 4 free culture building (all amphitheaters or better) for a short term boost to Rat. It does mean skipping Patronage but the idea is just to play the game a little differently. it does get repetitive to always take the same SP order.

 

[kirbdog]

The choice of Liberty or Tradition is probably the one area where there is the most give. Tradition has more free stuff, more happiness, free gold, and growth... Liberty has a great person and cheaper policies (translated = more culture than tradition, if you don't go really wide). Tradition is usually better overall for the player, but Liberty doesn't just screw you over. The Tradition package is awesome but doesn't have anything unique so much as just a lot more of what you love: hammers, happiness, gold, and food. Rationalism down to Free Thought, Aesthetics, Planned Economy, and the Rationalism finisher, on the other hand, are the killer apps that are really unique in a must-have way (though Aesthetics comes the closest of these to being replaceable, if you are able to get a lot of allies and thus don't use the friendship perk much).

 

[Feyd Rautha]

I like to play on maps with one or two less AI and Raging Barbs. As a result I typically pick up the Honor opener for barb locations and the culture. Over the course of the game the culture pickup makes it worth the slight offshoot. It's often my policy to also get a fast unit to patrol the northern border in the unsettled tundra border to pick up the barbs that are constantly spawning there.

After that, I have enough info about the map to know if I'm going wide or tall. If wide, I go Liberty. If tall, I go Tradition. If I finish that tree before the Renaissance I pick up the commerce opener for the gold boost in my most profitable city before taking Rationalism.

 

[Unresolved]

I like to play on maps with one or two less AI and Raging Barbs. As a result I typically pick up the Honor opener for barb locations and the culture. Over the course of the game the culture pickup makes it worth the slight offshoot. It's often my policy to also get a fast unit to patrol the northern border in the unsettled tundra border to pick up the barbs that are constantly spawning there.

After that, I have enough info about the map to know if I'm going wide or tall. If wide, I go Liberty. If tall, I go Tradition. If I finish that tree before the Renaissance I pick up the commerce opener for the gold boost in my most profitable city before taking Rationalism.

The culture aspect of the Honor opener does not pay for itself over the course of a game. Unless you're desperate for the barb locations, don't open Honor unless you're going to go deeper into the tree.

 

[moors]

How does aesthetics appear to work ? I chose aesthetics but there's no change in city state statuses...

 

[IkM]

Tradition-Piety-Freedom for Cultural Victory.
Tradition-Rationalism-Order for Science Victory.

 

[chazzycat]

How does aesthetics appear to work ? I chose aesthetics but there's no change in city state statuses...

it raises your resting point, which takes time to reach. Your influence should go up by 1 point per turn until it hits your resting point.

The beauty is that combined with pledging to protect, you get automatic friend status with all of the CS basically for free (just the cost of 2 policies...).

 

[Browd]

How does aesthetics appear to work ? I chose aesthetics but there's no change in city state statuses...

You will see the change over time. Aesthetics increases your influence resting point, but does not raise your influence to that point immediately.

So, for example, with Warsaw your actual influence and your influence resting point were both 0 when you adopted Aesthetics. Your influence resting point is now 20 and your actual influence will gradually rise to 20 over (usually) 20 turns.

With Budapest, on the other hand, your influence resting point was already 10 (because you had pledged to protect them many turns ago) and your current, actual influence is 28 (you satisfied a quest a while back and just recently lost friend status). Your influence resting point is now 30 (10 from pledge + 20 from Aesthetics), and your influence will creep back up to 30 in just a couple of turns. If your actual influence with Budapest was above 30, your influence would continue to fall as normal until it rests at 30.

 

[Mesix]

A lot of the discussion has been about Science victory games. I find that the optimal policies are different for different victory conditions and sometimes also map dependent. I will share one policy strategy which I like to use for Cultural Victory Games.

Open tradition for the +3 and faster border growth.

Legalism option 1: If you get a ruin to open in the first 10 turns to open Tradition, it is often quicker not to build the monument and use Legalism for a free monument (also also to get a free monument in your next 3 cities as soon as they are settled.

Full Liberty to help with rapid expansion to 4 cities and faster development with workers. The order is map dependent (do you need a worker or a settler sooner?). The free great person can be a GS to settle near your National College city, a GA to settle near your culture focused city (eventually with Hermitage and Alhambra), or perhaps a GE if there is a wonder which needs to be rushed (perhaps Petra in a good desert location or a key wonder in a low city). After getting the free settler, buy another and build a 4th to quickly expand to 4 cities.

Legalism option 2: Time legalism after you have finished building monuments and amphitheaters in all 4 of your cities (Petra provides a free amphitheater in 1 city). Then, when you research the Acoustics technology, all 4 cities will get free opera houses and make building Hermitage much faster.

Piety tree should be opened after Liberty. Try to get the bonus and 10% reduced policy cost as soon as possible. Piety policies can be interlaced with both Tradition and Liberty depending on how fast policies are progressing relative to research.

Finish Tradition to get the extra benefits for your 4 city empire. Free aqueducts, faster growth, and the and bonus in the capital.

The remaining two trees can be any mixture depending on strategy. I often take Freedom once the Industrial era opens to get the benefits of specialists, great people, 2x great tile improvements, and bonus from wonders. If you choose to use Honor, it is a good idea to open honor early (perhaps the second policy after opening Tradition) to get the maximum from barbarians, but return to finish the tree later (perhaps last after the other 4 trees are full) in the game. Patronage can always be helpful for the bonus , , and of course from city states. If your 4 cities are coastal, Commerce can provide some good benefits and may be a viable option.

 

[budweiser]

There's no one best way to do it.

Example: Let's say I want a science victory and I want to have more than just one city. I plan on 7 or 8 picks from which ever trees suit my civ and land and then I plan to open and pick rationalism until industrial era. Then I have the choice of picking an industrial tree or continuing with Rationalism.

If I wanted a cultural victory, I would probably plan to skip rationalism and go for representation and reformation asap and then open Freedom in the industrial era.

 

[OwlRaider]

Depends on your civilization and victory condition. In general you want to open with Tradition(the 4 tradition opening is a good place to start) for tall empires and Liberty for wide empires. What you do next depends on your victory condition of choice. Rationalism into Order works well for a science heavy game, Piety into Freedom works well for a culture game, you can go with honor into whatever for a domination game, etc.